


Your Voice (Is a Weapon)

by silvermadi (Orientation)



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: M/M, Mission Gone Wrong, Nile POV (kinda), Some comfort too, annoyances are bound to happen, happy/hopeful ending, in a tiny apartment, some hurt, some strong language!, the group is in hiding, they bring up old grievances like the old grandpa's they are, this is the 'they sometimes fight' fic no one asked for, yet here it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29032068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orientation/pseuds/silvermadi
Summary: When Andy, Nile, Joe and Nicky find themselves hiding from the Maffia in a safehouse in the middle of Amsterdam, tensions run high. Not that weird, given that their safehouse is a one-bedroom apartment in the basemant of one of the grand Herenhuizen on the canals.Or, Nicky and Joe fight, work through it and make up.Another family member might just reap the benefits.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 14
Kudos: 182





	Your Voice (Is a Weapon)

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this fic is sponsored by mr. Rucka saying that he sees them as a real couple with their ups and downs,  
> and my mother, with whom i had a very in-depth conversation with about couples sleeping together in one bed (or lack thereof), even when mad, and what kind of fights people can experience with their loved ones.
> 
> Massive thank you for Teologe, aka Teo, for reading it over and beta'ing. You did amazing <3
> 
> Pines, I owe you a big one, thank you for the hurt.
> 
> Many, many thanks go out to the TOG server for the endless cheerleading.
> 
> Also many, many apologies to the same people for asking, at 4AM in the morning, for Mundane Shit that would Drive You Up A Wall - and the massive chaos this caused. Your ideas were brilliant though, thanks for letting me play with them!

The mission had been good enough, if not for the way it all spectacularly blew up in its aftermath. They'd underestimated the close ties the drug ring had to the local police force - Joe had been infiltrating the Mocro Maffia in Amsterdam, trying to find out how deep their connections ran, but apparently he hadn't had enough time to get to the bottom of it. Copley's call telling them to move had been two weeks too early, but apparently a major weapons deal had been about to happen - the weapons would've been spread all over Europe, funding different radical groups which simply couldn't happen.

They'd also severely underestimated the high-end CCTV equipment the Maffia had at its disposal. The four of them had been caught on camera, their faces clearly recognizable. They'd even caught Nile jerking back to life after taking a bullet in her back. The way Andy's face constricted with terror when Copley called her that the four of them - Nile, Andy, Joe and Nicky - had to get off the streets immediately to disappear for the few hours it took him to hack into the systems and delete the footage shook Nile to her core. They hadn't even fully cleared the building yet, instead deciding to leave it to Copley who reported that he would send in a hit team to clean up after them.

On the way to the safehouse, a basement of one of the _Herenhuizen_ on the canals in downtown Amsterdam turned into a one-bedroom apartment - one of Joe and Nicky's homes, the upper house rented out for a steady income on the side - the car stayed uncharacteristically silent. Andy's face was strung tight and devoid of any colour, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, and Joe and Nicky, who had taken the backseat, clutched each other tightly, not speaking. Nile, riding shotgun on the passenger's seat, couldn't find it in herself to break the tense silence. Even though she had been barely involved the last time someone found out about their immortality, she knew the Merrick Incident left its traces in the little group - the absence of one of them glaringly clear. If Nile closed her eyes, she could easily picture him in the exact state they'd left him on that London river bank.

She tried not to think about it too much.

Andy pulled up to the building, turning to park the car in the underground parking. Wordlessly, the group piled out of the car, grabbing bags and equipment before Joe led the way to the private and hidden door leading to the apartment.

When they'd arrived here, a week ago - Joe had gone by himself almost a month ago to start his undercover op - Nile had been in love with the apartment. Despite the fact that it's tiny, it also seemed very luxurious. The walls were covered in bordeaux-red wallpaper, the curtains were made of heavy black velvet and the floor was covered in soft yet incredibly ancient carpet.

"It's not exactly to our taste," Nicky had said, as Nile had gone exploring. The living room was big enough for a couch with an attached lounge and a big comfortable reading chair, a tiny table functioning as a dining table and desk. Natural light still flowed in through the windows, rectangular and placed near the ceiling so they're on the level of the pavement outside. 

The bedroom had a double bed - an old, four poster bed with fluffy pillows and an overthrow blanket made of silk, embroidered with the gold thread, but it meant that the closet was kind of cramped in the corner of the room. There was a single bathroom with a bath. There wasn't enough room for a separate shower, so they had to make due. There was also a single vanity. It was a little outdated, but the entire basement was the kind of apartment Nile could see herself living in. No wonder Nicky and Joe kept it on the side.

"How so? I love it!" Nile had told him in earnest.

Nicky had laughed, unpacking his bags and stuffing his stuff next to Joe's - it was clear he'd been here before joining the Mocro Maffia in the outskirts of the city. The place was cleaned, not a speck of dust to find and the covers on the bed were clearly clean. "We got this place quite late, left to us by a friend," Nicky had explained to Nile. "This particular building is from the 15th century, I believe. We got it in the late 20th century, and by that time the city council thought it important that certain aspects of these houses remained in their original state - we're not even allowed to put a nail into the walls without the city councils' approval. We were lucky this part was already being rented out as an individual apartment, otherwise we couldn't even have made this. But it explains the wallpaper and such." Nicky had pulled a face.

"I still think it's pretty," Nile had pouted.

Nicky had smiled at her. "Feel free to use it, then, whenever you like. Joe and I don't come here often - we've gotten used to bigger places to stay when we have time off. We like to come here for weekends or such, never for long periods."

Nile had grinned at him. "I'll take you up on that," she'd promised.

Now, however, with the four of them needing to keep off the streets and the addition of Joe to the tiny space, Nile could understand why not even Joe and Nicky, when they were with just the two of them, would stay long. For example, a garden would've been nice, or an additional bedroom-turned-study or something. Some bigger windows which could open would've been absolutely amazing. In the summer it wouldn't really matter, you could go out into the city to explore and use this place mostly as a place to sleep, but now Nile felt slightly boxed-in. 

"Copley called yet?" Nile asked after they'd stored their stuff away and all four of them sat down in the living room. Nile was the only one even slightly relaxed - the other three were still tense. Nicky managed to sit next to Joe for a minute, before he moved across the room, taking up station beneath one of the windows, clearly listening for the sudden approach of cars or entire groups of men.

"No," Andy sighed, taking a sip from her water bottle. "Are you okay?" she asked, addressing Joe.

Joe, who had been burying his head in his hands, hunched over, every line of his body screaming out his exhaustion, looked up and gave Andy a tiny smile. "I will be, boss."

Nile still was left blinking at the metamorphoses Joe had been through. He'd shorn both his hair and his beard off, instead leaving behind a five-o'clock shadow on his cheeks and short-cropped hair on his head. It looked good, possibly made him look slightly younger too, but it also added sharpness to him, made him look slightly dangerous. Nile didn't prefer it.

"I'm glad to see you," she said, smiling.

Joe smiled back. "Glad to be back." 

His eyes flitted over to Nicky, who had dragged one of the dinner chairs over to his stake-out place near the window and against the wall so that he could sit more comfortably. He seemed to feel his husband's gaze on him, because he looked away for a moment to give Joe one of his special reserved-for-Joe-only tiny smiles before he closed his eyes, focussing on the outside world.

It turned dark and they still hadn't heard back. Eventually, Joe got up to prepare dinner. Andy had set up at the dinner table, muttering to herself as she poured over the mission plans, wondering where it had gone wrong. Nile had brought out her iPod and had been listening to music, spread out over the couch and slightly dozing. Nicky remained where he was, head resting against the wall, eyes closed and not moving at all until Joe announced dinner.

Dinner, at least, released them from some of the tension. Joe talked animatedly, retelling some stories from his month undercover to fill the group in. He also asked a lot of questions, wanting to know if he missed anything particularly exciting in the time he was away. Nicky had assured him he hadn't, London hadn't been exciting but rather gloomy when Joe had left, ending the conversation in the two of them giving each other heart-eyes. Nile and Andy shared a smile - the tension had prevented them from properly greeting each other, and Nile had been wondering how long it would take them before they would fall back into the loved-up saps they were. Apparently, not that long.

After dinner, though, the group bickered for an hour trying to figure out the sleeping arrangements for the night. In the end, Joe and Nicky got the bed, Andy got the couch and Nile made a little fort out of blankets on the floor.

No one managed to sleep, though, all of them still waiting on Copley to reach back to them. The only one turning in for the night turned out to be Joe, who sprawled out on the bed and was asleep within minutes, snoring slightly. It made Nicky snort softly, glancing up from his book to look fondly over at Joe sleeping for a moment, clearly relieved that Joe was back with him. Nile and Andy sat at the dinner table playing a board game and getting progressively more competitive, their whispers slowly progressing to harshed out words and insults.

At last, Copley called, 8 minutes to 5am to spare.

"Yeah?" Andy said as she answered the phone, body gone tense again as she listened with rapt attention to whatever Copley was saying on the other end of the line. Nile, sitting back in her chair while holding her breath, watched how Nicky got up and silently went to wake Joe. They got out of the bedroom to join them at the table while Andy was still silently listening to Copley, Joe yawning widely and sprawling out on the one chair left at the table, while Nicky kept standing behind him, hands rubbing over Joe's shoulders in a calming manner.

Nile got worried. If Copley had only called to tell them he was able to delete the footage, this conversation wouldn't take so long. Something was wrong.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Andy's eyes cut to Joe, mouth thinning in a stern line. "How bad?" she asked, sighing deeply at the answer.

Anxiously, Nile reached out, grabbing Joe's hand and squeezing. He squeezed back in thanks, but avoided her gaze, staring back at Andy instead, obviously trying to deduce what was going on.

"Okay, tell me when you can extract us." _Oh no._

Andy sighed again deeply and hung up. "We're fucked," she announced.

It was Nicky who spoke up. "How bad is it?" he asked quietly.

Andy was still looking at Joe but her gaze softened into something that bordered on pity. "Copley managed to delete the footage," she began, leading them in with some good news. "He said it was highly unlikely anyone saw it - it was still uploading and according to the files no-one had accessed them yet."

Nile blew out the breath she'd been holding. "That's a relief."

Andy nodded. "Yes, and our little stunt put this operation on the radar. The Dutch secret service is sweeping the building, as it's now a legitimized op. We don't have to go back to clean up - the AIVD is building their case against the Mocro Maffia as we speak."

"But?" Joe asked, voice soft.

Andy reached out, taking hold of Joe's other hand. "Someone escaped in the chaos, apparently. Told another faction of the Maffia of your betrayal. They're tearing up the city, trying to find you. Police are involved too, trying to find you for manslaughter."

Joe exhaled. "Fuck," he said, heartfelt.

"What does this mean?" Nile asked, the dread she felt in the pit of her stomach getting bigger.

"It means we can't leave," Joe said, releasing their hands to bring his fingers to his face, aggressively rubbing against his eyes. "At this stage, they'll have put the word out. Spies everywhere, putting out a ransom most likely too so people tip them off. They'll have me before I've made it into the fucking car."

"They'll have seen us too," Nicky added. "They'll associate us with him, use us to lead us back to Joe. We can't leave either."

"For how long?" Nile felt the panic building, glancing between her three family members.

"Copley is setting up a mission to extract us," Andy said, "but when he's able to pick us up? In a few days, hopefully. He'll keep us up to date."

Silence fell over the group, the four of them contemplating what this meant.

"Well, at least this time we're in one of our places," Nicky said, jokingly. "An actual apartment with provisions, rather than one of Andy's caves."

Andy glared at him. "Maybe, but at least _my_ places are more spacious."

"Would you rather sleep on a stone floor, Andromache?" Nicky shot back.

"We will just have to make do," Joe cut in, hand coming up to cover one of Nicky's hands with his own. He glared at Andy before giving Nile an encouraging smile. "We have before."

Nile gave him an unconvinced look. "Right," she said, feeling slightly hysterical as she observed the tiny space the four of us couldn't leave _for days._ "How hard can it be?"

*

The first three days passed without incidents. They unanimously decided that they all kept to themselves as much as possible, only sitting down together for meals. However, Nile found that, as much as she loved her family, she couldn't help but get slightly irritated at just mundane things she'd normally never fall over, but now, with each passing hour, were getting more and more irritable. And judging by the general behaviours of her flatmates, they were also beginning to feel the strain of being holed up in the tiny space.

Andy, for example, always managed to be the first one up, keeping the bathroom for herself and leaving it an absolute mess as she emerged, hot water gone for the next hour, water all over the floor and the condensation so thick it made Nile feeling slightly smothered to go in directly after. Not even addressing the amount of hair left behind on the drain of the shower. It had become blatantly clear to Nile that Andy simply can't be bothered to clean up after herself, instead leaving her stuff lying around.

It was left to Nile and Nicky to clean up after her, but while Nile could simply clean the parts that she needed to use, Nicky turned out to be something of an obsessive cleaner. He would clean all morning before settling down, muttering in Ligurian as he went. Andy steadily ignored him, causing tension to rise between Andy and Nicky. So, instead of picking a fight with Andy, Nicky had taken it upon himself to clean their entire weapon inventory, starting with his own sword before moving onto Joe's scimitar and Andy's labrys in the afternoons. It was a good thing Nile wasn't carrying a melee weapon yet - if Nicky decided to sharpen a weapon by using the whetstone one more day, Nile would start feeling slightly murderous.

She knew she's not a saint herself - she couldn't be bothered doing the dishes properly, usually trying to procrastinate it until right before bedtime (she's seen Nicky judge her for this, silently. But then, maybe he shouldn't decide to cook extremely elaborate in a tiny apartment with basically no ventilation so that the smell hangs around for the entire evening). She had also started to hack into the WiFi from the renters of the house, scrolling through social media to prevent herself from getting bored. TikTok has become a favourite, and everyone knows those are best played with the sound on. Sometimes, she liked certain set-ups, causing the same song to be heard multiple times in succession. Andy had snapped at her to turn it down, which left them again with Nicky's meticulous cleaning of their guns. There simply was no way to win.

She'd accepted that there would be tensions between them, though. Maybe she was mentally already preparing for a row happening - at this stage it was becoming unavoidable. What she hadn't expected was to see Joe and Nicky getting irritated at each other. Less likely it had seemed that the row would be between these two, and yet that was exactly what happened.

Nile would never have suspected it, but Joe turned out to be the one member of their team who just _couldn't stay still_. She herself was more like Nicky in this regard - if she was truly submerged in her task, she could hold still for hours. Joe was the exact opposite. Whether he was reading a book or making a sketch, he just didn't seem to shut up, either mouthing along with his words or thinking out loud. It was soothing at first, being able to doze off to his soothing timbre, but after three days it became a bit much. More distracting, however, is his inability to sit still for longer than five minutes. He'd always twist in his seat, and if you allowed him on the couch it would take maybe thirty minutes before he'd be sprawled out, claiming the entirety of the thing. At one point Nile had gone up to get to the bathroom, only to find Joe lying upside down on the couch, legs swung over the back of the couch and head dangling over the seat. His hands also didn't seem to stop moving, ever. It was worse now that he had shaven - his hands kept gliding over his scalp, clearly expecting to find his usual curls there but instead finding short hair. He hadn't shaved since getting back, and clearly his stubble was starting to itch - he kept scratching himself even without intending to, it seemed.

She'd never seen him this fidgety before though, and when she quietly asked Andy what was going on, Andy had tried to explain it to her.

"He feels guilty for the situation," she'd said, flipping the page of her book, not looking up. "He is also not very good at being told to stay put. There's a reason Nicky's our sniper and not Joe. He'd give himself away in the first five seconds."

It did not only extend to his daytime activities. Nile could hear Joe turn and turn _and turn_ before falling in a restless sleep for the last two nights. He'd start out cuddling close to Nicky, as he always did, but as soon as Nicky drifted off he didn't seem to be able to do the same. Nile was silently glad she didn't have to share a bed with him - she wasn't sure how Nicky managed to get any sleep at all, with all the turning and sighing that Joe did.

However, on the morning of the fourth day, the bags under Nicky's eyes were very prominent and he looked dead on his feet as he took his seat at the table. He was later than he normally was - Nile and Andy had already finished, the two of them basking in the quiet of the early morning. Nile was getting concerned.

Andy gave him a tight smile and slid him a cup of fresh coffee, still steaming hot. "How bad is it?"

Nicky sighed, cradling the cup in his hands and flashing Andy a grateful smile. "He won't settle down. I tried to hold him so he kept still, but even that didn't help. He's asleep now, though, so I hope he stays that way for a little while."

However, Joe slid out of the bedroom that exact moment, flopping down on the chair next to Nicky. To his credit, he didn't look any better than Nicky did. He didn't say anything, just silently accepting the coffee Andy slides at him. "Still hot," is all she added, immediately submerging herself in her book again.

"Are you okay?" Nile asked silently, feeling her heart constrict a little at the sight of the two of them.

Neither of them answer her, not wanting to admit it was going absolutely terrible and it was putting a strain on them. Instead, the both of them silently start on their breakfast, neither of them speaking. 

"Heard anything from Copley yet?" Nicky asked as he finished his breakfast. Joe averted his gaze, picking apart his freshly baked bun.

Andy sighed. "No, and I already _told you,_ I will tell you when I _do!_ " she said, tersely.

The silence that followed was deafening and made Nile's skin crawl. Grabbing the coffee pot, she emptied it in her mug and silently started sipping coffee.

Three pairs of eyes followed her movement, making her feel self-conscious. "What?" she asked, defensively, putting her mug back down on the table a little more aggressively than warranted.

"Can you wash the coffee pot too when you do the dishes?" Nicky asked. He got up, started to clear out the table even as both Nile and Joe still had their mugs in front of them.

"Yeah, after I've had my coffee," Nile replied, pointedly taking a sip from her mug.

She didn't miss the face Nicky pulled at her, though. She was just about to open her mouth when Joe beat her to it.

"Nicky, she'll do it. Let the kid enjoy her coffee first."

Nicky, however, pursed his lips in annoyance, turned on his heel and stalked into the kitchen to bring the dirty dishes to the sink. His comment, muttered in Ligurian, was clearly audible though, even if Nile couldn't understand it. It still was, after all, a tiny apartment.

Joe and Andy clearly could, however. Andy sighed deeply, muttering "here we go," under her breath to Nile as Joe's eyes seemed to flare up. He brought his mug down hard to the table and aggressively got up, rounding the corner behind the wall into the kitchen, which was located opposite of the bathroom.

"No, you will _not_ do the dishes, that's Nile's fucking job. Leave it to her, she'll do it eventually!"

"I am tired of waiting," Nicky hissed back. "It's a tiny fucking effort."

Something banged in the sink.

"You always pull this shit," Joe said, sounding angry, his voice slightly raised. "This is the same fucking bullshit you've been pulling since '54!"

"Oh no," Andy muttered, getting up from the table and curling up in the reading chair.

Nile stared at her, slightly bewildered. Feeling her glare, Andy looked up and gave her an unconcerned smile. "If I were you, I'd curl up on the couch and stay out of it. They're about to fight."

"What do you mean, 'about to'?" Nile asked, a hysterical note to her voice as the voices from the kitchen started to rise. She followed Andy's advice though, quickly getting up, grabbing her iPod, earphones and her book from her sleeping pile on the floor, and taking up her usual spot in the corner of the couch, making herself as small as she could.

Joe reappeared from the kitchen, Nicky hot on his heels. The two were clearly arguing, making wild hand gestures at each other and following each other around the living room and kitchen to get their point across.

"You don't have to clean every _fucking minute of every fucking day_!"

"Well, I wouldn't _have to_ , if I didn't have to do it all by my-goddamn-self!"

Feeling guilty, Nile curled in a little more, but Andy shook her head. "Don't take it personally. It's just the tension boiling over. It will be better after they've let it out. If it hadn't been this, it would've been the next irritating factor setting them off."

With that, Andy reopened her book and started reading. Feeling slightly better, Nile tried to do the same.

Joe and Nicky, in the meantime, were still arguing, though their speech had slipped into their own dialect, a mix of both their native tongues. Nile wasn't able to follow it, but Andy could. Despite her calm demeanor, it was clear she was listening in.

At Nile's curious look, Andy grinned like a shark and started to translate bits of their row.

"This always starts out the same way, though. They drag up some old arguments because they are suddenly relevant again before they get to the point of their current troubles."

Nile nodded. "Don’t they ever argue about the crusades?" she asked tentatively. 

Andy shook her head. “No, they put that to bed centuries ago - they had to, to move past it. To drag it back up would be a disservice to their love. If they’d bring that argument back, it could destroy them, because it will destroy the foundation they’ve built up together over time. It would mean they’d have to restart their entire relationship. It never comes to that, don't worry,” Andy assured her. “They love each other too much for that. Every other argument, though?” 

She shrugged and flipped a page of her book, “that’s all fair game.”

Nicky was still gathering the dishes from the dining table and steadily bringing them into the kitchen, while Joe followed around, monologuing in Arabic.

Andy snorted. "Joe just reminded Nicky of that time he'd been obsessively cleaning and accidentally threw out one of Da Vinci's sketches, which had been a gift to Joe. They never managed to salvage it."

Nile bit her tongue. _"What?!"_

"Don't worry, it wasn't his best," Andy replied, offhandedly, intently listening to the rapid-fire Ligurian Nicky was using.

They'd moved on to the bedroom, giving them an illusion of privacy. Not that it helped, exactly.

"Nicky is reminding Joe of that one time they had had to hide and Joe had made an absolute mess in the weeks Nicky had been away before that. They'd starved, then, because _someone_ forgot to check the inventory."

Nile whistled through her teeth. "They sure have been through a lot, huh."

Andy snorted. "We all have. Give it time, though. You will have too, soon enough."

Nile tried not to think about that, looking at Nicky and Joe instead, standing toe to toe, both gesturing wildly and interrupting each other. "And all they fight about is _cleaning?_ '

"Marriage," Andy sighed. "When something interesting comes up again, I'll let you know." With that, she shifted her attention back to her book.

Nile settled in, slightly uncurling herself a bit now that Nicky and Joe had moved into the bedroom. She put one earplug in and played her music, hoping it would help her keep calm.

She wasn't sure how long their fight lasted. At one point, she'd heard the word _Sudan_ and Andy had giggled. 

"Oh yeah, I remember that." At Niles' inquiring look, she'd explained. "Apparently they've moved on to the times they had no food after Nicky's earlier comment. Nicky once, accidentally, set all their goats free while mending the fence of their farm in Malta. They'd been expensive, if Joe is to be believed. They'd had six, and only two were retrieved by the end of the day. That didn't do well for their production of dairy and meat."

Nile had pulled a face. "Oof."

Andy nodded. She was, to Nile's utter astonishment, rather enjoying this walk down memory lane. "So Nicky is now reminding him of the accident of Sudan, where Joe had lost all our coin, resulting in the four of us having to hunt for our own food, slightly starving for an entire week before we managed to get together enough funds to buy meals."

She laughed sadly. "Quynh had been nearly as livid as Nicky had been," she sighed.

These all had been domestic incidents, though. Before long, the both of them were reminding each other of their fuck-ups during missions. Apparently, Nicky once had walked into a trap in his stubbornness, despite Andy's warning that it was, quite obviously, a trap. Joe, on the other hand, had once jeopardized an operation that had taken months to set up by killing a man that had insulted him to his face. A justified kill, Andy acknowledged, yet executed at the worst timing possible.

It didn't take long, after that, to argue about this mission. Somehow, their speech had slipped back into English, most likely because this mission didn't just concern just them but Nile and Andy too, and the both of them had also moved back into the living room (Joe had tried to walk away after his aforementioned fuck-up, but Nicky had followed him, clearly not done arguing). They've been listing every little thing that had gone wrong - from Copley's poor timeline to Nile's death that easily could've been prevented. And yet, that wasn't where their argument reached its height.

No, that moment came when Joe mentioned he wasn't to be responsible for the poor execution of preventing the weapon's deal and taking down the criminal organisation.

“Well, if you hadn’t gone undercover in the first place, none of this would’ve happened! We wouldn’t have had to hide here because they have a very detailed description of you that they could use! Wiping the CCTV would’ve been enough!” Nicky’s voice was like steel, staring Joe down but his hands were shaking. 

Andy put down her book on the setting table as she got up. “That’s enough,” she said, putting herself physically between the two men, placing her hand on Nicky’s chest and pushing him backwards. 

Nile was surprised to see tears shine in Joe’s eyes. He wasn’t crying - he still looked rather pissed off. Tears of frustration, most likely - Nile knew those very well herself. 

Andy turned to Joe. “He doesn’t mean this.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Joe said, sounding slightly choked off as he tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. “At least we both know it wasn’t me up on the roof, tasked with taking out those assholes who left the building.” 

He didn’t follow up on that, but even Nile could fill in the gap he left open. _At least I didn’t let anyone walk out of there alive._

This was the first time that Nile truly grasped the meaning of them being almost as long together as they had been immortal. They could probably argue for days, going over every little irritation, as well as every mission ever gone sideways for whatever reason it had at the time - probably never truly at their fault, but little doubts, little 'what-ifs' that lingered.

Nicky narrowed his eyes and seemed to freeze up.

Andy was still glaring them down, effectively ending their fight.

Joe seemed to deflate, anger disappearing from his face. Nicky, however, didn't seem to deflate at all. Instead, he turned on his heel, marched into the bedroom and slammed the flimsy thing meant to be a door shut behind him.

Nile looked between Andy and Joe, wondering who was going after him. Apparently, no one.

Andy shook her head. "Idiots." She picked up her book from the setting table and returned to her chair, picking up where she left off and prematurely putting an end to any follow-up discussions.

Nile hesitantly got up. "Isn't… someone going to check on him?"

Joe snorted, discreetly wiping some escaped tears away. "Be my guest, if you have a deathwish. I'm not doing it." 

Instead, he sat down at the dinner table, flipped open his sketchbook and angrily started to sketch, all aggressive lines and no finesse.

Looking for guidance, Nile glanced at Andy, at a loss what to do.

Andy saw her hesitation and gave her a soft look. "Leave them be, they work it out eventually. Go do the dishes."

*

The rest of the morning was a silent affair. Nicky didn't resurface, but Joe seemed to be okay after an hour of the fight. He'd snapped his sketchbook shut, quietly apologised to both Nile and Andy for the disturbance and assured Nile this row had nothing to do with her.

"It happens, sometimes," Joe had said, sinking down next to Nile on the couch, "in every marriage, I'd like to think. Sometimes it's triggered by miscommunication, and sometimes by the overflow of irritations, and you've been swallowing down your irritations all day, and then one of you puts the teacups back into the cupboard in the wrong way and every little comment that you've been swallowing down comes boiling out. It will be alright though. No need to start feeling guilty. We, too, are only human after all."

Nile had given him a watery smile. "Okay," she said softly. "Do you always fight like this?"

Joe had chuckled at that. "Most of the time, yeah. Sometimes it's better, sometimes much worse."

"And… you're not angry, anymore?"

"Nah," Joe had replied, stretching out, wrapping his arm around her and tugging her against him. "Well," he'd amented. "I'm still slightly irritated at Nico. But not angry anymore, no."

Nile had glanced at the shut bedroom door and the silence from beyond it. "What of Nicky?"

Joe had sighed. "My Nicolò has the exceptional talent of being able to hold a grudge. Don't take it personally - it's me he's angry at. You might get ignored a bit by proxy."

Andy had hummed at that. "The last time he was angry with me, he wouldn't talk to me for two days. His anger at Joe, though, could last an entire week." She'd shifted. "Well, at least we'll have some peace and quiet," she'd joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Joe had merely sighed.

By the time lunch rolled around, Nile was slightly nervous. She'd never experienced the aftermaths of rows like this before - her mother had been a firm believer in cooling down for half an hour, before sitting down with a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits to talk it out. Things were resolved within the hour.

But the comment that this could last for _days_ left her feeling slightly apprehensive.

While Nile and Joe prepared lunch, Andy had fetched Nicky. He still joined them for meals then. It made Nile feel a little better.

True to Andy and Joe's word, he completely ignored Joe throughout the entire meal - no glances in his direction, no touches shared between them. Joe merely huffed out his frustration, instead doing his best to keep Nile occupied, telling her stories and trying to keep her mind off the slight tension between himself and Nicky.

At one point Nicky interrupted him, though, asking Nile to pass him the salt. Feeling slightly baffled, she did, and she got a thankful smile in return.

Joe winked at her. _See? Not mad at you._

The rest of the day fell into the same routine. Nicky retreated as soon as lunch was done, and Joe and Nile found solace in trying to entertain each other instead - Joe really seemed to have lost some of the tension he'd subconsciously been holding the past few days. The atmosphere, in turn, seemed lighter in general. Nile made the three of them tea and, after tearing through all the cabinets, managed to find some salvageable biscuits. She brought Nicky some too, and he thanked her for thinking of him, but refused to join them further.

"Let me process, Nile. We'll be okay."

She'd left him alone after that, instead bullying Andy and Joe into joining her for tea and biscuits and laying out what had been nagging her these last few days. The tea had gone cold, in the end, but the three of them had managed to talk through it, finding new solutions in order to prevent another fight from happening.

Dinner passed uneventful, Nicky already seeming a little more settled, a little more willing to participate in the group again. He talked with Andy, mostly. Not a word yet for Joe, though, and now that Joe focussed more on his food instead of trying to distract both himself and Nile, Nile could see it didn't leave him entirely unaffected. It didn't leave either of them unaffected, for that matter. Joe kept sneaking glances at Nicky, seeing if he saw an opening to reach out, but every time Joe tried, Nicky would draw himself up, demonstratively turning away.

Joe huffed in anger. "Have it your way," he spat out, before he excused himself, clearing out his part of the table and disappearing to the kitchen.

A pained expression flitted over Nicky's face, fast as lightning, before he consciously relaxed. Andy lifted an eyebrow at him.

"I'm not ready to talk yet, and he knows it. If we do this now, we'll be fighting again in the next five minutes."

Andy nodded. "Oh, I know."

Nicky turned to Nile, who was biting her lip anxiously. "Sometimes I wish my anger was more like Joe's: hot and bright and _burning_ , all consuming. It flares, and then it dies. Mine does not - it simmers, plays and replays in my head, there for a period of time. I need time, Joe knows this, but he's still slightly agitated too - he tries to push me, not allowing me to cool off."

"How long do you need?" Nile asked, fully intending to help.

Nicky shook his head at her. "He's been my husband for nine hundred years, Nile. I intend to have him for at least nine hundred more, if I can help it. We've been here many times before, will be here many times again. Leave it to us."

With that, he got up, clearing out the table and followed Joe into the kitchen.

He didn't retreat again, after dinner, settling down with the book Andy'd finished that afternoon. Nile considered that a win.

The evening came to an end, though, and Nile asked Joe quietly if he wished to swap places - she'd have no trouble at all to sleep next to Nicky if Joe prefered to have his own space.

Joe huffed. "You don't think I let that stubborn man shoo me out of my own bed, right?" And that had been that.

Nile didn't even pretend to not look as everyone settled down for the night. They'd been sleeping with the door open - the door basically couldn't even be called a door, for it did nothing in terms of isolation, except make the room feel slightly stuffy - the last few days, and so the door stayed open tonight too.

Nicky, at one point during the evening, had abruptly gotten up and bid them all a good night before turning in.

"What, no kiss?" Joe had called after him, tantalizing, to which Nicky hadn't responded.

"Joe," Andy had sighed, giving him an unimpressed look.

"What? He's being a dick," Joe had said, sounding defensive.

"Well, so are you," Andy shot back. "Nine hundred years and yet..."

Joe hadn't responded to that, instead refocusing on beating Nile's ass in their game of chess.

They'd rounded up and gotten ready to go to bed, and Nile watched from her pile of blankets as Joe slid into bed, lying slightly stiff next to Nicky, who had his back turned to him. This lasted before all but five seconds, before Nicky sighed audibly, reaching blindly behind him to grab Joe's arm and pulled. Joe went willingly, slotting himself behind Nicky like he always did. Nicky brought his hand up, though, and pressed a kiss to Joe's wrist.

An olive branch if Nile ever saw one. She laid down, smiling to herself before sleep took her.

*

They didn't make up for another day, instead tiptoeing around each other, not speaking. Nile found that if she didn't try to intervene, it was easy enough to deal with. Instead, she pestered Joe into doing games with her, from board games to art challenges. With Andy, she practiced her French. Nicky took it upon himself to cook for every meal, clearly finding an outlet in the kitchen. She volunteered during breakfast to help out and kept coming back into the kitchen every time Nicky stepped into it, enjoying spending time with him and conversation flowing freely. Nicky explained each dish to her, telling her it's origins and how it evolved over the years. It was time well spent.

On the morning of the sixth day, the second day after their fight, Nicky and Nile were in the kitchen, baking scrambled eggs and preparing coffee, when Joe stumbled in, beelining for the tab to get a glass of water. He nodded at them both in acknowledgement, but before he could leave again Nicky spoke up.

"Yusuf, wait."

Nicky took the spatula from Nile and gave her a gentle nudge. "Mind giving us a minute?"

Nile smiled. "No, of course not. Don't let the eggs burn, though," she joked, looking at them fondly. "I've worked hard on those."

She left them in the kitchen, flopping down next to Andy on the couch, who was still buried underneath her blankets. "Make room?"

Andy sighed but shifted, allowing Nile to snuggle close. "They're finally talking, huh?"

Nile smiled. "Yeah, they are."

Andy yawned. "Good. They're no fun when they fight. Unless they bring out their swords - that's actually hilarious."

"Andy!"

"Kidding, kidding."

The both of them dozed off as Nicky and Joe talked, their voices drifting in from the kitchen on occasion. It was Nicky who woke them again for breakfast.

And just like that, it seemed as if the whole fight never happened. Nicky and Joe were casually touching each other again during breakfast, laughing together and giving each other fond looks. It was a little more deliberate than it normally was, but it was clear they'd talked it out and were now simply ensuring each other that all was well.

The group settled back into their routines, a little more conscious of their actions than the first few days and yet lighter too, the tension finally broken. 

"The moment Copley finally frees us," Joe said that night, herding Nicky into the bedroom while giving Nile a wicked smile, "Nicky and I will be taking some time off, _privately."_

"Gross," Nile said, pretending to be grossed out but clearly joking. 

Nicky laughed at her before turning to Joe, kissing him. "I can't wait."

* 

  
  


At last, Copley picked them up on the eighth day. The black armoured van tore into the underground parking near 5pm, tires screaming at the sudden breaking. At the signal, the four of them moved out of the apartment, sprinting towards the van and piling in the back. The benches were suited on either side of the van. Nicky and Joe sat down to the left behind Copley, while Nile and Andy took their seats across from them.

"Sorry it took this long," Copley said, from behind the steering wheel, as he revved the van and they finally, _finally_ , moved out onto the streets. "We'd set up an entire decoy - they wouldn't take it."

"Don't worry about it," Nile said. "I'm just glad to leave that place behind for the next century."

"Oh, thawned your love for the place, did we?" Nicky teased.

Nile pulled a face at him. "No, not at all, but I don't think I can currently go back to it without feeling slightly claustrophobic. Next decade, perhaps. Never been to Amsterdam before, and I definitely want to check it out."

Joe gave her a kind smile. "That's why we're lucky that damn house is on the Monument's List - it's a guarantee it will be there for at least the next few decades, in the exact same state it is now. It's nice, sometimes, to have something that won't change when the world around it inevitably will. We will always have something familiar to return to."

"Is there any place we can stop so we can finally go outside?" Andy asked. "I really want some fresh fucking air."

Copley gave her a glance over his shoulder before returning his attention to the road. "I'm taking a detour through the city, trying to make it to Amsterdam-Zuidoost to lose any potential tails so we can hit the highway, from there it's barely fifteen minutes to Schiphol. Can you manage that?"

Andy grunted her consent as Joe perked up. "Zuidoost?" he said, moving through the van, manoeuvring himself between the front seats so he could turn the radio on. "Ajax playing today?"

He zapped between channels while Nicky sighed, giving his husband an exasperated yet fond look. "Joe, is now really the time?"

"Yes!" Joe answered, as if the answer was obvious, then gave an excited _whoop!_ as the sounds of cheering supporters filled the van while a commentator was naming players in rapid succession to try to explain who was in possession of the ball.

Nile gave Andy a deadpan look. "Soccer?"

Andy shrugged, unconcerned, as Joe scoffed. "Football," he corrected her. "Now shh, I'm trying to figure out who they're playing against."

Copley chuckled as he tossed a smartphone over his shoulder. "Here, maybe this is easier."

Joe muttered a thanks as he unlocked it, pulling up the _Eredivisie_ stats. "PSV," he muttered, sounding less than thrilled. He sat back, entwined his free hand with Nicky and started listening to the game commentary. To her left, Andy was dozing off and Nicky wasn't far behind her.

Nile sighed, leaning forwards and trying to see through the front screen. "Is it safe yet?" she asked.

Copley nodded. "Want to keep me company up front?"

Grateful, Nile got up and wormed her way into the passenger seat. "Where are we?" she asked.

"We're near the Bijlmer now. In a few turns, we should be able to see the Ziggo Dome and the Johan Cruijff Arena," Copley explained as he took a corner, following the flow of traffic around them. Nile checked the side- and rear view mirrors to look for any potential tails, but Copley chuckled.

"We're not being followed. You can relax."

In front of them, the Johan Cruijff Arena doomed up, the flow of cars in front of it not lessening in the slightest - the late supporters still flowing in. Slightly to the left, a huge, black box with it's side covered in LEDs displayed different images - artists booked to perform for the next twelve months.

"Ziggo dome," Copley explained at Nile's stare. "We're almost there. From here on, we're going to hit the A10 before turning to the A4. From there, it's not even 10 minutes to Schiphol. We'll be back in London in three hours tops, depending how fast we can board and take off."

"Sounds good to me," Nile said, slagging slightly in her seat. The running Dutch commentary was beyond her understanding, but the inaudible sounds of the many cheering supporters had a soothing quality to it, making her feel slightly drowsy.

In the back, Joe and Nicky were having a silent conversation among themselves. _Was it really worth it?_

Joe interrupted the silence abruptly. "His phone number in here?" he asked. Copley looked through the rear view mirror, then nodded.

"Yeah, you should be able to find it in contacts."

Nile glanced over her shoulder, confused.

Joe gave her a tight smile, gripping Nicky's hand tightly and tugging it snugly against his thigh, as his other leg bounced nervously.

Joe seemed to find what he was looking for, because he held the phone away from him, clearly setting up the call on speakerphone.

"Oui?" a familiar voice called out, hesitant.

"Ajax vs PSV," Joe said, without preamble. "50 on Ajax, 3 to 2."

It stayed silent. Joe's leg didn't stop bouncing.

Nile shared a look with Nicky, who gave her a sad smile in return. Fully turning in her seat, she saw that Andy was already looking at her, eyes shining. 

"50 on PSV. 1 to 2. They score in overtime," Booker replied. 

Joe snorted, shaking his head. His leg stilled. "Not this time, they won't. Tadiç is in great shape, and Huntelaar knows how to score."

"It's still PSV we're talking about," Booker replied. The sounds of rustling were heard, when the sound of the television temporarily took over the microphone before Booker turned down the volume. "They're talented like that."

Joe laughed. "Well, you're on."

It did not mean all was forgiven, but there had to be a start somewhere. After all, the hurt Booker had caused was much bigger than the fight Nicky and Joe had had. And all of a sudden, Nile understood their punishment of a century.

In a way this was almost the same as the aftermath of Joe and Nicky's fight, Nile reflected, but on a much larger scale. They both had needed a little time to cool down and process, before being able to talk it out and apologise. And whether that meant a few days, or a 100 years, that didn't really matter, did it? Because while Nicky and Joe had had their falling out, they hadn't been able to go to sleep separately, set in their ways and in their love as they were. And as Nile glanced back now, looking at Joe heatedly discussing the match with Booker over the phone while Nicky held his hand, eyes closed and serenely dozing off, she realised this basically meant the same thing.

They were going to be alright.

After all, they were family.

**Author's Note:**

> Some facts.
> 
> Most of the houses in Amsterdam are, indeed, protected by the city council - you really are not allowed to put a nail into a wall without permission first. Joe had loved that, so he'd bought it.
> 
> For fic conveniences, and because you cannot convince me otherwise, Joe and Nicky's safehouses are always stocked with enough food to last them several months, especially after that time in Croatia when Joe fucked up. Andy's safe-caves, however...
> 
> PSV really has a knack for scoring goals in overtime, often therefore pulling the game in their favour. No one likes them, unless you are from the south of the Netherlands. (is this a joke? not really)
> 
> The Mocro Maffia is very, very real. I just hope they allow me this pass. Pray for me.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it! <3


End file.
